“The momentum is really growing, and we’re very excited about that,” said Japan-America Society of North Carolina Chairman Tim Newlin when asked about the state of Japanese investment in North Carolina.
Among the flagship locators is FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, which broke ground on a $2 billion cell culture and microbial manufacturing capacity. Apart from being its largest in North America, the FUJIFILM investment is historic for North Carolina as it will be the largest life sciences investment and make the state a major center for life sciences in the U.S.
The facility, located in the town of Holly Springs in Wake County, is due to be fully operational by early 2025.
Meanwhile, global auto giant Toyota announced an additional $2.5 billion investment to expand its Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMNC). The added investment forms part of a commitment to invest approximately $70 billion for its electrification development program, $5.6 billion of which is intended for the production of battery electric vehicle (BEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV).
Scheduled to begin production in 2025, the facility is expected to employ more than 2,000 workers.
Aside from offering an excellent quality of life with its affordability, comfortable climate, clean beaches, lush mountains, North Carolina has attracted new businesses because of its connectivity to the rest of the world and its abundance in talent.
“From the standpoint of business, North Carolina has a large number of educational institutions, like the University of North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest. We have a supply of good talented people coming through and that is attractive to businesses building their company and looking to recruit,” said Newlin.
Due to host the annual Southeast USA-Japan Conference in a few years, North Carolina will get an opportunity to introduce the local business community with new Japanese investors, as well as lay out all the state’s incentives and grants to prospective investors, according to Newlin.